25 – 26 July 2011
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| The side I rode up |
The day started with riding over “Pass of the Clouds”. Thought I had ridden over this the day before but I was wrong, just a couple of wee fellas to warm me up. Quite a climb right on the coast (about 500m), incredibly hot and the clouds kept on parting way to the sun above me. There was a tunnel for buses, trucks and cars but motorbikes and bicycles have to ride over. A bit unfair but the view was pretty good and the descent always a great reward.
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| Some old US structures remaining at the top |
Hoi An reminds me a lot of Luang Prabang. An ancient city that has kept much of its character, it is very touristy but has a nice feel about the place. The streets are great to wander down and at night the old city is lit up with hundreds of different lanterns looking very cool while you enjoy your meal overlooking the river.
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| The streets in the Ancient Town |
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| My pineapple lady - cutting it up for me |
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| The local back streets of Hoi An |
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| That's a really nice photo. |
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| Looking up the river |
So I went off and checked out My Son (pronounced Me Son). Similar to Angkor Temples and some in Indonesia, Thailand and Burma. All these sites were constructed by the same people, the Champa civilisation. They were renowned for their fine craftsmanship as you can see in the carvings of all their structures. I would agree after seeing Angkor Wat and My Son. I’m only half good at drawing stick figures and these guys carved intricate detail into stone – incredible.
A few interesting facts about it:
No mortar is used to bind the brick together and it still is unknown today how exactly they were constructed.
This monument represents a penis. If you touch it, it brings you good luck…
This monument represents a vagina. Celebrations/ceremonies involved both of these…interesting.
The heads and hats of all the people statues and carvings were removed and taken by the French. They are now displayed at the Leuv Museum in France for some reason. All the heads here have been reconstructed.
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| A fake head (reconstructed) |
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| This one grew a new head |
US bombed much of the My Son site as it was a known Viet Cong base so many of the towers are destroyed.
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| bomb crater at the main site (nicely burnt for affect) |
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| Some remaining ruins |
The French only re-discovered this area in 1895 (I think, 1890 something) as it was covered in dense rainforest and when clearing began they kept on discovering more and more sites. Would have been incredible to stumble across!
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